Fishbowl Why Crews Helps Tidwell Out
by silversurf4
Summary: Ever wonder how Tidwell knew to bring the goldfish to dinner?  I did - Charlie had to tell him right?  I also wondered why.  Inspired by HopelessRomantic0707's story


**Fishbowl** (an explanation) - _Inspired by HopelessRomantic0707's story "Keep that Breathless Charm_"

It was Thanksgiving Day. Ted made some sort of a bird. It could have been a big chicken, or perhaps a small turkey, but he tried. Charlie just wasn't any good at holidays anymore. With no family to speak of, at least none he wanted to speak to and no work to do - it sorta left Charlie Crews with a lot of time to contemplate his current dilemma.

This particular dilemma was five foot one inches tall, wore a burgundy leather jacket like a superhero's cape and trailed attitude like contrails off a jet. But he recognized that he was fast becoming far more attached to her than his Zen philosophy allowed for and he was determined to do something about it.

And for that reason he was currently examining the merits of their new Captain.

Kevin Tidwell, from the United States of New York City, made no bones about his interest in Dani Reese. It started before he'd even really settled in to the new job, gotten furniture or learned much about the Department. Crews had noticed. Actually, he noticed anytime a man paid attention to his tightlipped diminutive partner. He first thought of it as protective streak for the young woman, but lately he'd realized he was sliding sideways into jealous and interested in ways that entirely un-Zen. This disturbed him greatly.

He was far too broken. She was far too broken. Together they would be a train wreck, but he could see it happening – so he knew it was time to make an effort to distract her. Crews reasoned that if he could put her on the right track with a suitable man, then he wouldn't be tempted, because there were rules - at least there were for him.

**You don't mess with a married woman** – he didn't. Constance learned that one the hard way.

**You don't mess with your partner** – although Bobby Stark wasn't a temptation for him. But given the right setting, couple beers and he could see himself with Reese – something they'd both regret. Better to remove the temptation entirely he reasoned. If she was happy with someone else, then he could be happy for her – he hoped.

And he was tired of the rumor mill about her libertine lifestyle, not because he judged her – he did the exact same thing. God knows he had a lengthy and varied procession of women through the mansion on a monthly basis, but because it was dangerous for her. He wasn't a sexist, but it was a simple fact – her behavior was far more dangerous for her than his was for him – absent the risk of STDs. And Charlie sincerely hoped Reese was as insistent about condoms as he was.

Statistical data showed more women were subjected to abuse by a domestic partner than by complete strangers. They were both cops and knew this, but it's not like cops don't have blind spots and an invulnerability tendency. He knew instinctively that if a man, any man, hurt his young partner, his rage would spill over and it would be bad for both of them.

And while he didn't particularly like Tidwell, he didn't dislike him either. Twelve years inside with murderers and rapists and you get a feel for the type of man who likes to hurt women – Tidwell wasn't one of those. He seemed kinda harmless and Dani could handle him. He'd be good for her in ways that Charlie never could, never would be…

The New Yorker possessed self-esteem and gentleness, goofy infatuation and a touch of chivalry that Tidwell always managed to screw up with his mouth. He needed help.

Dani was a tough cookie and a hard sell, but what to do – he wondered.

The answer presented itself the following morning in a mall on Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year. Her dour mood and description of Thanksgiving made him immediately concerned. Reese should have more to be thankful for and less worries. He could help but shop for her. There were so very many things he wanted to give the young woman and none of them came in paper bags or were sold in stores, but he settled for those on this day.

That – his inability to restrain himself from buying her little things from as simple as sunglasses to as personal as underwear - made him realize he had a problem. And as they said in AA, the first step was admitting you had a problem. His was small, but fierce and the smile he was able to coax from her with a simple yet thoughtful gift of sunglasses - lit his day in shades and colors he thought were lost to him.

Charlie had chickened out when it came to the excuse for the lavender panties that would compliment her skin tone and were coincidently in her size. He just wasn't ready to admit he could describe her derriere as well as he could the shape of her face. But she'd end up with them anyway – anonymously.

He could never tell her that while the young college student underwear saleswoman flirted with him, he could only see flashes of her, Dani, in the satiny lingerie she suggested. He'd settled for the pale purple in a reasonable style and functional for a woman who was as active as his young partner. She was not the sort of woman for garters and silk, but he could definitely see her in just a t-shirt and those panties – so much so that he had to shake the image from his head, but couldn't resist the purchase.

Then an epiphany came to him in the form of a glittering goldfish in a small round bowl in the window of a near empty pet shop at the mall. The owner was right – no one wants an lizard at 6AM, but the faraway look in her eyes as Reese gazed mesmerized at the repetitive motion of swimming glittering fish gave Charlie an idea.

Naturally, when he'd asked she'd denied, it was her reflexive response – denial, but he knew her well enough that this hid her true desires. Fish were quite relaxing and a bit Zen and no one needed Zen more than Reese, he reasoned.

He quietly pulled Tidwell aside and told him of the fish and it's connection to his reserved and reticent partner. The man seemed skeptical until Crews advised him that Dani's still waters ran quite deep and there was far more to her than anyone noticed. Tidwell seemed to appreciate this, nodded solemnly and took the gesture as it was intended as a helpful hint. He emerged from the shop and carefully balanced the small golden fish in its clear glass bowl all the way back to the station on his leg as he drove.

Charlie didn't even wince when Tidwell told him she'd accepted his eleventh entreaty to a real date. It was a simple dinner invitation, but as Tidwell excitedly shared, "it was a start," and he was, "taking the fish." He winked at Charlie, blithely accepting and incorrectly assuming they were in league.

Initially Crews was suspicious of the Captain. He seemed to like Reese before he even knew her. It was two years in and Crews had barely scratched the surface of the fathoms of dark waters under Dani Reese's keel. Charlie was no fool. Reese's looks attracted a lot of men, but they only wanted one thing from her. It and they were not what she needed.

But Crews' first instinct had been correct; Tidwell was different - in a good way. He seemed to sense her fragility and approached her with a mixture of self-effacing humor and boldness tempered with a cautious reserve. The New Yorker was a little goofy, but gentle and well intentioned. He would be good for her, in ways Charlie could never be.

He made a point not to show any emotion at all as the metaphorical knife blade sunk deep between his shoulder blades. It was a comfortable, familiar and welcome pain. Later as it became more and more apparent the two were having a meaningful relationship, Charlie felt his pain become a dull ache – one that he could live with. She was close, but not too close and she was happy…and that made him smile.

Later, as Tidwell expertly jammed his foot squarely in his mouth and she walked out on him, he conversed with the little fish happily motoring around the bottom of the bowl. "You look bigger from the side," he told it.

Inside the message resonated within the Captain. "Things are not always what they seem," and "this looked easier from further away." Getting inside Dani Reese's high walls would take work, investment and a little luck. Fortunately for him, he was Irish and luck was on his side. So too was Charlie Crews….and that gave him hope.


End file.
